Nightmares in Nakushima
by ArcsageSaleth
Summary: Years after the stories of the boy who sealed away death and the Investigation Team that defeated a god, the city of Nakushima has it's own share of problems...and it will be up to another group of teenagers to stop this evil before the world is shrouded in darkness... Rated M to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**_(A/N: while this story is going to focus on the elements from the Shin Megami Tensei series, there will also be key elements taken form it's spinoff Persona. As such I have dubbed this story a Persona story, since there are a lot more elements from Persona. Enjoy)_**

**Introduction:**

The city of Nakushima was the same as any other metropolitan Japanese city. It was no Tokyo to be sure, but it was still a fairly large city. Nestled within the valley of its namesake, one could find almost anything they wanted here. Nature? Top notch education? It doesn't matter what you are looking for, you can probably find it here.

However, this tranquil city was about to be assaulted with a series of incidents, that, when they draw to their conclusion, there will be no blissful ignorance of the world to the students of Yasoshiba Academy...

**Chapter 1**

**_(A/N: I'm gonna recommend music to play in the background while you read this, as I have limited music choices please forgive me if you know something better. For now, play the song New Days from Persona 4)_**

On a train heading toward the city of Nakushima, was a 17 year old boy named Makoto Satou. He was a boy with black hair and aqua blue eyes. He was skinny for his age, and his dark red tee-shirt he had on right now was really showing it. He was constantly looking out the window and back at the digital clock on the train. _Man...I just wanna get home...vacationing in Iwatodai was not the way I wanted to spend my break from school._ He simply sighed and began to let himself drift off to sleep. It seemed almost instantly after he closed his eyes the attendant came on the loud speakers.

"We are about to arrive at Nakushima Station, all passengers wishing to get off at this station gather your things now.."

Makoto gathered his stuff and prepared to leave as the train slowed to a stop. _I hope they can forgive me for having to get a later train_, Makoto thought as he left his train to find his friends at the coffee shop they agreed to meet at.

When he arrived he saw that 3 of his 4 friends were present. Naomi was a girl with long black hair, almost emerald eyes, wearing a low cut white dress shirt and a dark red skirt. She was wearing long black stockings today and looked annoyed. "He was supposed to be here an hour ago! When I see Makoto..."

The boy directly across from her looked up from a book he was reading. He had black hair as well, and brown eyes. He was wearing a plain white dress shirt and casual jeans. "He'll be here soon enough Naomi. All we can do is wait. Order another coffee if you want."

"Naoki...if I keep buying coffee I won't be able to sleep tonight."

"I'd love to see ya riled up though!" The other girl said. She had long brown hair, slightly red eyes, and wore a black dress shirt with a checkered skirt.

"Of course you would Viva." Naomi simply sighed. That's when they saw Makoto enter. "You're late."

Makoto started to rub the back of his head. "Yeah sorry about that...but I sent forward a message to Saki. She should've told ya."

Everyone seemed to get grim for a second but they all returned to their normal expressions.

Naoki was the one to speak. "Well we didn't receive word, so she must have been busy."

Makoto sighed. He loved that chick to death, but sometimes... "It's fine. I'm here now, so, how was spring break for you guys?"

Naomi face became a rather bored expression. "We didn't do anything too glamorous. What I'm more interested in is what you did in Iwatodai. I heard from Saki that your folks want you to go to school somewhere around there."

Makoto seemed a little melancholic. "Yeah. They want me to go to some school named Gekkoukan High. It's supposed to be a very fancy private school."

Naoki looked at Makoto. "Yes, I heard all of Tatsumi Port Island is privately owned by the Kirijo Group."

Makoto laughed. "Yeah, apparently Yasoshiba isn't good enough for them." He sighed a little. "I was looking forward to seeing Saki...guess I'll have to wait till tomorrow."

Viva laughed a little awkwardly. "Y-yeah...guess you will."

_Later in the evening...elsewhere in town..._

**_(Play Speculation~another version from Persona 4)_**

A limousine was driving up to a police barricade that had been set up. A young man with brown hair and light blue eyes sat in the back seat. He simply sighed as his butler slowed the car to a stop. "Master Chijinda...we've arrived."

The man looked up. "I see. Go ahead and drive back without me, I doubt I'll be home anytime soon."

The butler simply nodded as Chijinda left the car. _Nakushima, I haven't been back here in a long time...This place always seems to have something going on._

Chijinda walked up to the police barricade and flashed his badge. The officer looked it over and gave him a smile. "Ahhh, Detective Shirogane, I'm glad to see you arrived safely."

Chijinda gave a simple smirk. "I don't believe there was much doubt there. Anyway, where's the body?"

The officer pointed upward. "She's up there."

Chijinda looked up and saw it was a ghastly scene. The body was dangling from one leg caught in the wires of the telephone pole. She seemed to be about 5'4" with medium length brown hair kept in two buns on the sides of her head. Her arms were missing, as were her eyes (leaving only bloody gouged out eye sockets), ears and tongue. Her stomach had been ripped open leading her entrails to be dangling from the hole, some already on the ground. Right between her about B-cup size breasts was a large gash where if one looked from the right angle they would be able to see her non-beating heart.

The other limbs had been arranged in a little prop. The leg was holding up the arms, with one pointing towards the body and another towards a bloodied message on the wall. The victim's blood was everywhere and Chijinda could tell the homicide department would have a "fun" time cleaning up this mess.

"Ghastly...so, where is your detective?"

The officer looked around and pointed. "He's right over there."

Chijinda looked and saw a man in his early twenties vomiting into a trash can. When he held his head back up, he could see he was wearing glasses, he had short black hair, and green eyes. The detective saw him and ran over.

"Sorry about that Detective. My name is Ken Ishida. This is...uh...my first case."

Chijinda smiled. It was nice to see an aspiring rookie. "It's quite alright Detective Ishida...is something else wrong?"

Ishida had been giving him a funny look. "Well it's just...no offense sir, but aren't you a little young to be a detective?"

Chijinda smiled. "Don't underestimate me because of my age. Let's survey the area. Who's our victim?"

Ishida frowned, "Her name is Saki Suzumoto. She goes to Yasoshiba Academy, a local school. She had been missing for a week when we discovered her body mere hours ago. She's 17 years old. She would have been starting her second year of high school..."

"Tragedy...I notice the killer left us a note."

Ishida acted surprised for a second but then said, "OH, he did..."

They examined the message to see what it said. It said simply, "This is the retribution that awaits those who defy the inevitable. She was only a demonstration...onto the real show..."

Chijinda sat in silence for a bit before speaking. "I would assume he wrote this message using the victim's own arm, it isn't very neatly done. Run the arms for fingerprints."

Ishida nodded and ran off. Chijinda simply stared at the message then to the body. This is going to be a very busy week...

**_(A/N: I hope you enjoyed this story, I know it's long and took a bit to get started, but trust me it will get good very soon. Please review! Review = motivation to work faster! :) have a good day!)_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Chapter 2_**

**(A/N: play Heartbeat, Heartbreak from Persona 4)**

_The next day..._

Makoto headed off to school after he got ready in the morning, ready for a perfectly normal day. However, when he arrived at the annual beginning of the year ceremony, he noticed the principal come out in a sweat with a frown on his face.

"Attention, students. I fear I must begin this year with some grave news, I'm afraid. One of your fellow students, Saki Suzumoto, passed away this morning. She had been missing for a week, and the police have just recovered her body."

There were audible gasps all around. Saki was a well loved student and it was shocking someone so full of life could just die like that. Her boyfriend, Makoto, was the most shocked by the news. _That's...impossible! I just talked with her the day before yesterday! How could she have been missing..._

The principal continued the ceremony with a moment of silence for the deceased and a few of the faculty giving eulogies. After the melancholic mood died down, the principal said that this year would be dedicated to her memory, and that the students should try extra hard this year, for her sake.

After Makoto recovered he immediately went to find Naoki. He couldn't believe his best friend would lie to him and not tell him his own girlfriend was missing! He found Naoki a little ways down the hallway from the gymnasium. "Naoki! I need to talk to you!"

Naoki had frown upon his face. "I think I know what you're going to ask about."

Makoto pushed Naoki against the wall clutching his friend's collar. "Then tell me! Tell me why you didn't tell me about this!"

Naoki simply looked down and away. He could see the anger and pain in Makoto's eyes and couldn't bear to look at him. "We wanted to celebrate you coming back, not ruin your vacation with that kind of news. Besides...how were we supposed to know she'd turn up dead?"

Makoto sat there for a second and then let Naoki go. "I guess...you're right..." Makoto couldn't help but cry. The tears just wouldn't stop. He had always had trouble with relationships, and this was just another kick in his gut. "God...why?"

Naoki couldn't help seeing his best friend like this, but he couldn't think of anything to say. "Makoto...I..."

A teacher happened by and eventually got Makoto up and led him away. As Makoto was led away Naoki couldn't help but feel that his friend would never be able to forgive him.

It was with a heavy heart Naoki headed off to class. Later during lunch he met up with Viva and Naomi. "Hey guys..."

The girls could tell something happened, though Naomi spoke up first. "Is Makoto ok?"

Naoki shook his head. "I think he feels betrayed. We should have just told him yesterday..."

Viva was the one to retort. "We had a good reason to not tell him!"

"Yes, but there was an equally good reason TO tell him." Naomi replied.

The three friends sat in silence for a bit. "It's hard to believe...she's really gone," Viva finally spoke up.

They all looked over to the spot Saki used to occupy. "Yeah, but we can't let ourselves be consumed with regret.." Naoki said,

"Hahaha.,,,you've been reading too many books Naoki." Naomi replied.

Viva looked up at Naoki. "Where is Makoto?"

Naoki thought for a moment and replied. "A teacher helped him off to the infirmary I think. I bet he got sent straight home, along with a few other people."

Viva looked down. "I'm worried about him..."

Naomi decided to be the optimistic one. "I'm sure he'll be fine! He's pretty strong, I know he'll be fine."

Viva and Naoki nodded. They knew they just had to believe in Makoto. Little did they know, he wasn't quite sent home...

* * *

**_(A/N: I would recommend you play Speculation again. Basically anytime the police are involved, it's best to play that.)_**

_Meanwhile...at the Police Station..._

Detective Shirogane was looking over the autopsy report that had just come in about the Susumoto case. He was staring specifically at the cause of death and approximate time of death. "Cause of death: it appears that most of the victim's blood had been pumped out and kept preserved to be put at the crime scene. All mutilations were done post-mortem."

_Well they killed her, then they decided to mutilate the body..._

He looked over the time of death now, which was the one that genuinely disturbed him. "Approximate time of death, as it appears body was preserved, to be 4 days before the discovering of the body."

_How does someone hide a dead body for 4 days, let alone kidnap a child for an entire week without us so much as hearing one lead..._

Detective Ishida entered the room. "Hey, uh sir? We got the kid, Makoto Satou."

Chijinda looked back at him. "Is he in an interrogation room?"

Ishida seemed surprised. "You really think the kid has anything to do with this?"

Chijinda sighed but explained. "He is the victim's closest friend. He obviously had last contact with her."

Ishida almost had a physical sweat drop go down his face. "Heheh, guess you're right..."

Chijinda sighed, and left the room to take Makoto to the interrogation room.

Makoto was a little shaken up but when the police asked him to come in about Saki, he had little choice but to cooperate to the best of his ability. He was sitting across from Chijinda in a barely lit room.

"So...when was the last time you talked to Ms. Suzumoto?"

Makoto looked away. "You wouldn't believe me if I said it."

Chijinda looked him dead in the eye. "Try me." Chijinda had seen his fair share of strange cases. He knew he'd be ready for whatever this kid brought to the table.

"I talked to her the day before yesterday." Makoto plainly stated.

"Impossible. She died 4 days ago." Despite Chijinda's words, he knew the kid was probably telling the truth.

"Look! I said you wouldn't believe me. Why am I even here?! I was away when all this happened!" Makoto jumped up from his chair, knocking it over in the process.

"Look, just let me see your phone so I can prove your story."

Makoto looked surprised. "You...you believe me?"

Chijinda smiled. "I've seen my fair share of weird things Mr. Satou."

Makoto handed over his cellphone to the detective. Chijinda then left to go and review the new evidence with Detective Ishida. When he walked into the room next to the interrogation room, Ishida was sitting there, observing Makoto as he walked around the room.

"So, that cellphone..." Ishida said as Chijinda put the phone down.

"Hook it up and replay the call with Ms. Suzumoto."

Ishida sighed. He hooked up the phone to their machine and saw that there was indeed a call with Saki 2 days prior. He clicked the button to replay the phone call.

_Ring ring...click_

_"Hello?"_

_"Ah Saki, it's nice to finally get to talk to you."_

_"Ah Makoto! You're coming back tomorrow, aren't ya? How was your trip?"_

_"Not the greatest, but not the worst either. Hey, could you tell everyone I'm going to have to catch a later train? I'm gonna be back at 1 instead of noon."_

_"Alright! I'll be sure to pass it along."_

_"Thanks Saki"_

_"Talk to ya later, Makoto!"_

_"Yeah, talk to ya later._

_Click..._

They both sat in silence for a while before Ishida spoke up. "That was definitely Saki."

Chijinda gave him a curious look. "How would you know?"

Ishida rubbed the back of his head. "I'm good friends with her father, so I've talked to her before..."

Chijinda nodded. "But if this is Ms. Suzumoto...how did she respond to him supposedly after she died, and more still...not sound scared or nervous at all?"

Ishida thought for a minute, but he couldn't come up with anything. "Heh, this is certainly an interesting case."

Chijinda had to agree with that. He couldn't wrap his head conventionally around this case. He knew it had to be at least in part, supernatural, meaning he'd need some of his old contacts. "Save the phone call and give the kid back his phone. He's free to go."

Ishida nodded. "Aye, aye sir." Ishida left the room with the cell phone as Chijinda pulled out his own cellphone. He scrolled down in the contacts to a certain name. The name was, "Naoto Shirogane".


	3. Chapter 3

**_(A/N: you'll have to forgive me, but this one is gonna be a long one...there's quite a bit I need to get done in this chapter and it make take a while, so please forgive me. Anyway, enjoy.)_**

Makoto left the police station in a weird mood. He felt as if there was a big pounding in his head that just wouldn't go away. He started walking home staring at his contact list on his phone. As he scrolled over Saki's name, he went to delete it...but he just couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to delete the number from his phone. His heart wouldn't accept the fact that the only relationship he had that he was happy about ended like this. He cried a lot that night. He cried on the way home till he couldn't anymore. He even cried himself to sleep that night with barely eating anything for dinner.

**_(Play Poem of Everyone's Souls)_**

When he woke up though, he wasn't in his room. He was standing on a platform seemingly suspended in mid air made out of stain glass. There were columns dotting it, with strange symbols on each of them. He looked out and saw nothing but pure black around him, as if a dome had been draped over the area, and there was nothing out there. He was surprised when he turned around and saw Naoki standing a little ways away.

"Naoki!" He ran over to his friend. "Where are we?"

Naoki shook his head. "I don't know..."

Their thoughts were interrupted as they saw a man appear across the way. He was a middle aged man with short slicked black hair put up in a ponytail. He was wearing what appeared to be a butterfly mask that covered all his face but half his mouth. His mouth went into a smile as he saw them. They couldn't describe why, but seeing him put them at ease.

"Welcome, forgive me for having to call you here so suddenly, but I can assure you, you are safely back in your beds at home. This place you are in right now exists in a different space, a place between the conscious and the unconscious. The manifestation of humanity's subconscious..."

Makoto looked to the man. "And who are you?"

The man laughed a little. "Forgive me Makoto, for not introducing myself. I am known as Philemon. I am a humble guide for those worthy of commemoration."

"How did you know his name, Philemon?" Naoki retorted.

"I know a great many things Naoki...but I am not your enemy, I can assure you. Tell me now...do you believe in fortune telling?"

Naoki answered immediately. "I can't say that I fully believe, but I suppose it depends on the person doing it."

Makoto was next. "I guess I do a little bit, I mean sometimes it can motivate people to make the fortune true, right?"

Philemon nodded. "Then allow me, to tell your fortune." He summoned a Tarot deck to his side, and dealt out 3 cards."

The first card was revealed to be The Moon. "There has been a great mystery thrust upon you, hasn't there? There will be more to it in the coming days, and it will be up to you to find the truth amongst the lies and shadows."

The second card was revealed to be Death. "I will not mince words, there will be sacrifices on this journey. Sacrifices you wish you could avoid...but sacrifices will certainly be necessary in the coming days."

Naoki and Makoto didn't like the sound of that, but they got even more nervous when the look on Philemon's face grew grim as he revealed the final card. It was The Fool, however it was upside down.

"There will be...many wrong paths that will be set before you...it will be up to you to find the right path and pursue the light that exists at the end of this tunnel..."

Naoki was about to ask another question but Philemon cut him off with a wave of his hand. "I'm sorry, but there is no time left. In my current state I can barely hold connection with you, go now, and know you have my blessing."

There was a bright flash of light and both boys awoke in their beds. They could both agree that was a weird dream...but what did it all mean?

* * *

**_(Play heartbeat, heartbreak again.)_**

Makoto was walking to school with Viva and couldn't help but yawn. She looked at him with a mild sense of concern. "Are you doing ok..?"

Makoto smiled. "Of course I am!...I just didn't get much sleep last night."

Viva nodded but put a hand on his shoulder. "If you ever need someone to talk to..."

"I know." Makoto replied.

Meanwhile Naoki was also having a troubled morning. He was still trying to mull everything over in his head when Naomi ran up to him. "Hey Naoki!...is something wrong? You seem so serious right now."

"Huh? It's nothing. I just had a weird dream last night. I'll be fine."

Naomi nodded despite the fact she was still concerned about her friend. They talked about various things until they met up with Makoto and Viva. "How are you doing Makoto?" Naoki asked.

"I'm doing just fine." Makoto said. "Really, thanks guys, but it'll be just fine. Oh Naoki, while I still remember. I have to help move the gym equipment today, mind staying after and helping me out?"

"Of course. But why not ask Naomi or Viva?"

Makoto started rubbing the back of the head. "Cause you're a guy friend."

That comment prompted a nice kick in the shin from Viva. "OW! I wasn't trying to offend you."

Viva smiled. "I know, but when else will I get to do that? I've got track after school anyway."

Naomi sighed. "And I have the Student Council meeting."

Makoto smiled. "See? Anyway thanks Naoki. You're a life saver!"

Naoki nodded. "No problem."

* * *

After school, they had been moving everything around for so long that it was starting to get dark. "I wish they woulda put the instructions up instead of telling us halfway through it that we were putting them in the wrong place!"

Naoki smiled at that. "Yes, but I also wish the school didn't have so much equipment in the first place."

Makoto put the last box in place. "I know, but I guess that's what we get for being a snobby rich school. Anyway, again thanks for the help."

Naoki looked up at his friend. "And I say again, no problem. We're friends for a reason."

Makoto laughed. "I guess that's true. Anyway let's head home, it's starting to get dark. I know I told my folks I'd be back late, but they might want me home soon."

"Agreed."

And with that they began to leave. However, as they turned around a corner they both felt a sharp pain through their skull. They clutched their head in pain at the same time and both collapsed to the ground.

* * *

**_(Play Tartarus block 6)_**

Naoki was the first to wake up. He was genuinely disturbed by his surroundings. It looks as if they were in a dilapidated old school building. The walls wallpaper was stained with blood and peeling off. There were parts of the floor missing which seemed to lead straight down through a lower floor and onto a basement which was filled with spikes. He could see multiple corpses piled up with the spikes protruding in very ghastly and sick ways. He could see some had pierced serval bones and some people fell down feet first and had the spike driven up through their body.

The smell of rotting flesh was pungent and permeated throughout the air. He then looked down the hallway forward. There were some skeletons strewn across it, some more complete than others. From what he could see of the non decomposed bodies, it looked as if something had ripped their intestines out and began to eat away at them. Others were missing limbs altogether and others looked as if they had killed themselves by smashing their head against the wall.

There was certainly not a lack of blood. It seemed as if the floor had been coated with the sticky substance. The smell through the air was almost unbearable and Naoki knew, they had to leave soon.

He quickly went over and attempted to wake up Makoto. "Makoto, wake up!"

Makoto started to stir in his sleep. "Ugh...where are...holy hell!" As Makoto started scanning the area it looked and if he was about to throw up. "Jesus...where are we?"

Naoki shook his head. "I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this place."

Makoto snapped. "Oh? And did you get that from the dead bodies, or the smell?!"

"Calm down Makoto, we need to remain calm." Naoki wished he could take his own advice, he was downright terrified. But he also knew they would have to remain calm to get out of this situation.

**_(Play Shadow from Persona 3)_**

That's when they saw it...the creature that would haunt their nightmares for weeks to come. It looked as if it had the normal stature of a human of about 5'7" but was incased in leathery patched up skin. It looked like someone took a bunch of rotting corpses and stitched them back together in a Frankenstein type scenario. It has decaying skin and stitches where it's joints would be, it had a long tentacle like arm which ended in three sharp claws.

And it's face...there were no eyes only black empty eye sockets that has blood around it as if they had been gouged out. It had no ears, only a stout leathery looking face. It's mouth was in a snarl with huge teeth like that of a shark. It made a low, deep, growling noise as it looked towards them. That's when it let out a shriek, a piercing shriek that made them cover their ears.

"Run! Now!" Was all Makoto said as they bolted. They could hear the creature running after them behind them, and it seemed it was gaining on them fast. The only thing the could do was slam a set of double doors shut and put a bar in it to lock it in place before they heard it banging against the door like some mad man tying to claim his next victim.

They knew it would only be a matter of time before it broke out but they couldn't see anywhere to go. All the classroom doors were locked. Just as they were about to sign themselves to fate they saw a wall slide open and a man in his mid thirty's step out. He had short brown hair, brown eyes and was wearing glasses. He had a white coat on that was torn at several places and jeans with the same condition.

"You two, follow me if you want to live!" They were in such a panic they couldn't complain. They ran through the secret passageway and saw it close just as the creature busted down the door and yelled in a feral shout as it's prey escaped.

**_(A/N: and now the story really gets to start! I hope you're all ready for a wild ride! cause this is only the beginning.)_**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4**_

After following the man for almost twenty minutes dashing in and out of secret passages and having a few close encounters with more of those creatures, Naoki and Makoto arrived in what looked like a main computer room you would find in a huge facility. There were various monitors set up that where showing various angles of the hallways and such. There was also a room filled with beds off to the right, and large containers found throughout the room. The wall was blue, unlike the white hallways found around, and seemed to have a calming feel to it.

"We should be safe in here, now to get you two out." The man said as he sat at the computer hooked up in the room. "Hold up a second!" Makoto said.

"We don't even know who you are!"

Naoki turned to his friend. "He _**did**_ save our lives, Makoto. Give him the benefit of the doubt."

The man turned towards them with a sad expression. "I'm sorry, he's right. I haven't been able to introduce myself. My name is Haruki Goda. What's important right now is getting you back to your world."

Makoto gasped. "Wait, we're in a different world?"

"Look, the less you know the better, but yes. The only way to leave is through a specific door, but it's always locked. And everytime the key is used, it is transported to a different location." Goda replied.

Naoki sighed. "But Goda-san, how are we supposed to find this key then?"

"You're in luck because I happen to have the key." Goda said as he pulled a golden key from his pocket. It looked to be an ordinary key, but it had a weird aura around it.

"What's up with the key?" Naoki said.

Goda put the key away before answering. "The ruler of this place makes sure it vanishes when used, just like I said."

Makoto wasn't leaving without a clear answer. "Who is the ruler of this place? Can you give us an actual answer?"

Goda sighed and turned to his computer screens. "Very well, I'll tell you. The ruler of this place is known as Nyarlathrotep. He is better known as the 'Crawling Chaos'. He is the manifestation of humanity's desire for chaos, destruction, and the negative emotions we carry in our hearts."

"So he's prue evil?" Naoki asked.

Goda shook his head. "No, not entirely. Yes, he is a being of chaos, but chaos comes in many shapes, many forms. The forms he chooses to take are evil, yet good."

"So like you said, he's just chaos incarnate." Makoto said.

"Exactly." Goda replied. "Now, I hope I've answered all your questions so we can get you out."

Naoki wasn't done yet. "Wait Goda-san...do you know who Philemon is?" The question hadn't even crossed Makoto's mind, and he was surprised to hear Naoki bring it up.

Goda frowned before answering. "I see...then it's worse then I feared."

"What do you mean?" Makoto nervously asked.

"You each bear the mark of Philemon." Gode raised his left hand and a blue-colored butterfly tatoo appeared on his hand, and as it seemed to glow, similar marks appeared on Makoto and Naoki's hands. "Philemon is the complete opposite of Nyarlathrotep. He is the manifestation of Order, humanity's desire to grow, and the positive emotions in our hearts."

"What does having this mark mean for us?" Naoki asked.

"It means you are the biggest targets our enemy has." Goda's sudden change in demeanor caught the two boys off guard. His face seemed drained of the pain and anguish that filled it and was instead replaced with passion, and strangely, curiosity.

"So is that why we were brought here?" Naoki said. Makoto was feeling more and more nervous the more and more he found out about this place.

"Can we just get on with it and leave?" Makota finally said.

Naoki's reply was almost instant. "He said we're targets! We'll just be thrown right back in."

Goda's face lit up with an idea. "Not necessarily." Both of the boys looked confused. "Well, he may not know you're here. Or that you bear the mark. This world plucks people from the world at random, he almost never does it himself."

Naoki looked directly at him. "So you're saying we could leave and just slip under the radar?"

Goda smiled. "Exactly. Look, I know you wanna help and all but you have lives to live..." Goda trailed off with a frown before continuing. "My lfie ended long ago..."

Naoki and Makoto almost jumped back. "Then you-you're a ghost?!" They both said at almost the same time.

Goda just laughed. "No, no. I'm as alive as you can be. I just feel my place is here, helping people that are trapped in here. I've been in this world for...I believe 15 years by your world's standards."

"Only 15...huh?" Makoto commented.

"Look, I answered more then I should have let's just get you two out of here." Goda said.

Despite wanting to know more, Naoki and Makoto followed Goda out of the computer room through another series of corridors and secret passageways. While there was little time to check, Naoki sword he saw some floating orbs of light on the way. Eventually they came to a stop before another door to a room at the seeming top of the massive structure they were in. "Just go through here, and use the key on the next door."

The boys nodded and walked through. The came out into a completely white room, devoid of anything but a single solitary door at the far end. It was completely bright, despite there being no obvious light souce. As they walked through the secret passage closed behind them, and they had the strange feeling they would not be able to go back.

They walked to the other end of the room and inserted the key into the lock. It turned and the door opened to reveal nothing but a bright light beyond it. They were hesitant to walk through, but suddenly the room shook and the light in the room went completely out. They began to hear moaning and cries as the room faded to black and quicker then they could process what was going on they jumped through the door.

As the door closed a lone man walked towards it, completely illuminated despite the black surroundings. He had silver hair, was wearing a brown buisness suit with a red tie, and seemed to be smiling a crazed smile as his red eyes lit up. "So they got away...it doesn't matter, soon the hour will come and my resurrection can begin!"

The man laughed as he seemed to teleport away and the room instantly turned bright again.


	5. Chapter 5

_A few weeks later..._

Sitting in his office drinking a cup of coffee was Detective Chijinda Shirogane reviewing his notes of the case so far.

The investigation was going nowhere fast. Two more bodies had been found, all in similar manners to Saki Suzumoto. Chijinda had also logged two more bloody messages written with the two bodies. The first message was, "The second hour has fallen. Times change, and seasons grow scarce. There is no eternal happiness, only a deep and endless abyss of truth."

Chijinda noted that while it held the same kind of symbolic meaning as the first message, it seemed to be written in a much different manner. _The murderer obviously has gotten an accomplice that is writing the messages for him while he's propping up the body. Its especially seen in the fact that these last two messages were written much neater and with a greater purpose._

Chijinda flipped the page to the next message. This message read, "The third chime has rung. The abyss grows wide into a smile, a welcoming smile. As eventually, you will all pass between its teeth, and be locked in its cells. Do not resist. It is only prolonging your suffering."

Chijinda simply sighed. _There is definitely something he's working towards, some kind of goal. But what? The hour has fallen and the chime has rung definitely suggests time. But what time is he waiting for?_

Chijinda's thoughts were interrupted by Detective Ishida entering the room. "Sir, the last body came back from autopsy. Same deal as the other two. They were all killed then mutilated..."

Chijinda raised an eyebrow at the young detective. "There's something else?"

Ishida nodded. "We found some claw marks on this one. They were inflicted by no animal I've ever seen, we can't find any matches whatsoever."

Chijinda got up from his desk. "So now we have a mysterious animal helping our killer? Remind me again when this case was normal?" Chijinda chuckled a little at his last comment.

Ishida laughed a little as well. "Well it wasn't normal to begin with sir. What's our next move?"

Chijinda pondered what to do next, when an idea hit him. "I'm gonna follow the advice of one of my contacts, I think it's time for me to take a "break"."

Ishida looked at him with a curious look. "What do you mean?"

Chijinda started to walk with Ishida out of the room while explaining. "Well you said it yourself. I'm a little young, aren't I? I should probably be going to school. And I have the perfect school in mind. Yasoshiba Academy."

Ishida caught on to what Chijinda was doing. "You think maybe one of them is doing it?"

"The students and faculty there would have the best access to these students. They've all been from the same school. So I believe an undercover investigation is in order."

Ishida nodded. "I guess you're right. I'll keep doing what I can on this end sir."

Chijinda nodded as well and left. Ishida walked into his own office and pulled out his own cellphone.

"Hello? Yeah, I just finished talking with him. We haven't found much, but I guess what do you expect. What? You want me to do that? *sigh* I'll be right on it." Ishida hung up his phone. "That man expects me to do too much."

* * *

While Chijinda was walking towards the school he was stopped by a older looking woman with dark blue hair and blue eyes. "Detective Shirogane, I would like to speak to you."

Chijinda smiled a slightly sarcastic smile. "As the great Detective Naoto Shirogane, or as my mother?"

Naoto was not pleased at all with her son's attitude. "Both. I'm concerned about this case."

"I'll be just fine, it's not like I haven't dealt with Shadows before." Chijinda shot back at his mother.

His mother still looked at him with concern. "I'm not doubting your experience. But this seems like more than just the works of the Shadows."

Chijinda knew what she was going to say next. "You mean the messages don't you?"

She nodded. "Even in the Inaba case, the victims weren't left with bloodied messages, and still had their bodies intact."

Chijinda sighed. "I know what I'm getting involved in. But as I'm sure you're fully aware, our business makes it so we are prepared for this sort of thing."

His mother nodded slowly. "Just be careful. I fear there's a more malevolent force behind this."

Chijinda started to walk away. "I'll be sure to remember that."

* * *

Naoki and Makoto could not get the events they experienced out of their head, even after all this time. It seemed almost everyday they had some kind of nightmare and they were barely getting sleep. Naomi was growing increasingly concerned for them and she finally cornered them in homeroom. "OK guys, seriously. What is wrong? You both look like you haven't slept in days!"

Naoki smiled a little. You wouldn't be too far from the truth. "We're fine Naomi."

Naomi sighed. "Look I know you don't feel comfortable with all the disappearing people...but you shouldn't be losing sleep over it."

Makoto laughed a little. "It's a refreshing change to see you so optimistic. I believe just the other day you were thinking you were next."

Naomi flushed a little red at the embarrassing thought. "That's-that's not important!"

Viva, who had just arrived heard that. "Oh look at your face Naomi, I would think Naoki just confessed to you if I didn't know any better."

Both Naomi and Naoki went a little redder before the teacher stepped into the room and everyone sat down. "Alright class, today we'll be receiving a new transfer student. Please stand up, Mr. Chijinda Shirogane."

Chijinda rose from a seat in the back. He was wearing the standard male uniform: blue suit with a red tie and blue dress pants. "Hello, my name is Chijinda. It's nice to meet you all."

As he sat back down there were already whispers. Specifically from the 'girl side' of class. Makoto looked over to Naomi. "Shirogane...why does that name sound familiar?"

Naomi turned towards him as if he asked a completely stupid question. "The Shirogane family is a family of detectives that handle the weird cases the Police won't. They are also all known for being extremely smart."

Makoto sighed. "So we got a self-righteous prick who thinks he's better than everyone?"

"Makoto! That's rude!" Viva snapped.

"They're right Makoto. You don't even know him yet," Naoki said without looking up from a book he started reading.

Makoto sighed, "I guess you're right." Then class happened.

* * *

Naoki was surprised when Chijinda walked up to him right before he was about to go off to lunch. "Excuse me, but do you have a moment?"

Naoki was confused but humored the detective. "Sure, what do you need Shirogane-San?"

They walked out of the classroom and quite a way down the hallway before Chijinda started speaking. "The death of your friend was very tragic."

Naoki was confused and was becoming uncomfortable fast. He hated talking to people he didn't know. "Yeah...it was. But Makoto was more affected then me."

Chijinda nodded as if he already knew the answer. "Yes, and then 2 more of your classmates have subsequently disappeared and turned up dead. What do you make of all this?"

"No offense, but isn't that for the Police to figure out?"

Chijinda smiled. "I suppose you're right, but humor me for a second."

Naoki thought about it for a long time. "Well, obviously they are targeting our school. The reason why though is a mystery."

Chijinda nodded again. "Yes...and they also seem to be random?"

Naoki shook his head a little. "No...they all share a few things in common."

Chijinda smiled. "Yes, they are all in your class and know you and your friends."

Naoki started to step back a little. "What are you trying to say...?"

"I'm trying to say...watch yourself." Chijinda said as he walked away.

Naoki was left completely uncomfortable and ran off to catch up with his friends.


	6. Chapter 6

Naoki arrived on the rooftop to meet his friends for lunch, at least 10 minutes late. "Oh, there you are Naoki." Naomi stated as he walked towards them.

"I just had a few things I needed to take care of. It was nothing important." Naoki took his seat and began to eat his lunch. "So, as I was saying...it's getting really eerie lately, isn't it?" Naomi said.

Viva nodded almost immediately. "Yeah, with all the people disappearing I'm starting to get goosebumps myself, heh. I'm probably worried over nothing, but I wish the police would just catch the guy. Would make me feel a lot better."

Makoto took a sip of his drink before adding on. "Yeah, but we can't control how well the police do their jobs. And considering we got that detective kid in our school, I bet the police set him up to be here."

"Wouldn't that mean they think one of us did it?" Naomi asked.

"Well think about it this way, multiple people from the same class have disappeared. They probably suspect the teachers more than the students, but you can never be too sure." Makoto continued.

Naoki was being unnaturally quiet, even for him. Viva was the one to ask. "Ok Naoki, you are not ok. Tell us what's wrong."

Naoki sighed before he began. "Shirogane stopped to have a conversation with me. He asked me how I felt about what was going on and then told me to watch myself."

Makoto raised an eyebrow. "Why would he be so interested in asking your opinion? He's the cop."

Naoki shook his head. "I'm not sure, but I don't like it."

Naomi tried to lighten the mood. "Well let's get off that subject. Naoki you're good at Algebra right? I need some help with our assignment."

Naoki simply nodded and the rest of lunch went by without anything of note. However, Naoki stopped Makoto as they were leaving. "Hang on, I need to speak to you."

Makoto seemed confused. "Um, sure. What about?"

"Shirogane said something else that put me on edge. He told me to watch myself. Me specifically."

"You think he knows what's going on?"

"No, but he probably has a good idea that it's something supernatural, especially since he's still on the case. He made me start to think though, what if Naomi and Viva get dragged into this? Goda himself said that we are prime targets."

It seemed as if the cool spring breeze picked up just as Naoki finished. It bring with it a sense of dread, especially since Makoto had not once thought his friends might be dragged into what was going on. "So should we watch them?"

Naoki thought for a while, listening to the rustling of the trees off in the distance and the cars rolling down the road. "They both have to stay after school today, right?"

Makoto nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"I'll offer to help Naomi at student council and you can offer to walk Viva home cause you wanna talk to her or something, I don't know."

Makoto sighed but he understood. "Viva has been wanting me to join a club, I could say I want to sit in on practice to see if I wanna join."

Naoki nodded. "Seems like a good plan, hopefully we have nothing to worry about."

And thus, the plan was in motion. They both went about their respective parts and both girls responded positively to their offers.

**_(A/N: this story will now shift into two different story arcs. The next few chapters will follow exclusively Naoki and Naomi. Then later, we will go back and follow Makoto and Viva.)_**

"I'm surprised Naoki, you usually never offer to help out on your own."

Naoki rubbed the back of his head, seemingly embarrassed. "Well maybe I'm a little worried about you walking home by yourself."

Naomi blushed a little but recovered and said in a slightly mockey tone, "Aww, aren't you just a sweetie pie."

Naoki blushed beat red. "Hey! Don't make fun of me!"

Naomi laughed as they both walked off to the student council room.

* * *

They both left the student council room as the sky was beginning to get dark. "I didn't expect your meeting to take that long." Naoki stated.

"Well we had a lot to talk about today. Anyway I believe we need to head home before we're missed."

"I guess you're right."

They headed off towards the gym exit, as that the closest exit to where they were. However as they entered the gym. Naomi suddenly stopped and grabbed her head. "Ugh...what's that ringing?"

Naoki couldn't hear anything at first, but then he heard it. The same ringing he heard when he was with Makoto. "Naomi we need to-" Naomi was out on the ground, and he quickly followed.

When Naomi awoke, she found Naoki's face directly above her and noticed she was in his lap. She flashed a deep red and quickly shot up. "I'm fine! Thanks, but I'm just-" that's when she began to take in her surroundings.

The gym seemed as if to have expanded by an extra 40 or 50 feet in every direction, and there were various posters ripped up in different places hanging from the walls. As she began to look up she gasped in horror as she saw human muscle had been ripped out of bodies and were dangling from a catwalk on the ceiling.

"Where...where are we?"

Naoki didn't want to answer her, hell, he didn't even want her to be here. "I don't know, but it's not good. We need to move as quickly as we can."

Naomi simply nodded. She was glad for one thing at least. She wasn't alone. She had always put on a brave face when they got lost in the woods numerous times, but she was always terrified underneath. If she was alone in this place, she probably would have found a corner and cried in it, until she couldn't cry anymore.

They tried the exit door first, however it was if it was painted on as decor rather than an actual functioning door. "Guess we're not getting out this way."

As they looked around they saw only two other doors. The door into the locker rooms, and the door to the hallway. Naoki was not quick to want to find out what the locker room held, so he ignored that and led Naomi towards the hallway door.

They exited into a normal run down hallway, Naoki was glad for the lack of more corpses, but he did detect a strong smell in the air. It seemed to be coming from the first door to their left, which was left slightly ajar.

The room was labeled, "Science Labs". While Naoki didn't like the look of what could be in there, he opened the door and enter. What he found inside was equal parts horrifying and fascinating.

He could see human bodies lain out, completely dissected. He could see various instruments lain out that probably helped the perpetrator do his act. "This is horrible..." Naomi stated.

Naoki walked into the room because he noticed a piece of paper laying on the counter. He was I eased by the title, of which was "Victim's Memoirs". Despite his misgivings he became to read it.

_Victim's Memoirs #1 (1/5)_

_I wish I knew the date, but I don't so I will just label this as document number 1. Our group has been traveling for quite some time, and we've begun to notice something. This place, it does something to us. They want me to figure out what's going on due to the fact I'm apparently the only one that payed attention during Anatomy and Biology. Two of our group volunteered to be dissected to help us along. I begrudgingly accepted. It was a quick process, but I almost couldn't bear to watch the life leave their eyes. Yui was nice enough to help me along, she's a rather nice girl. Anyway, the results of my dissection have brought us little answers, but I'll be damned if I killed two people for nothing. We're going to keep exploring, to see if we can uncover anything else._


	7. Chapter 7

Naoki immediately put the note back where he found it. Naomi looked at him, full of concern. "Is something wrong, Naoki?"

Naoki just shook his head. "Nothing's wrong. We should get out of here." Naomi couldn't have agreed more. She couldn't explain it, but she had been having a weird feeling since they entered the room.

On his way out Naoki noticed a unattended flashlight sitting on one of the counters. He curiously picked it up and tried to turn it on. Surprisingly enough, it turned on! He figured he might have a use for this later so he turned it back off and put it in his pocket.

They walked down the hallway some more and eventually found a staircase leading downstairs. "Should we go down?" Naomi said and Naoki was trying to think of his response when he heard it. A low, growling noise. The same noise he heard the other day when he ran into...

"Naomi...we need to find a place to hide. Now."

Naomi was confused. "Whys that?"

Naoki just grabbed her hand. "Just trust me!" He ran off towards the first classroom he saw. As they entered he could hear the growling coming slowly closer to where they were. "What...what is that Naoki?" Naomi nervously said.

Naoki was quickly looking around for somewhere to hide, and found a small closet in the classroom. "Naomi, just follow me...ok?"

Naomi nodded and they both huddled into the closet. Naoki closed the door just as he heard the growling outside the classroom and heard the door busted open. The creature had entered the classroom, and it was searching around for them. Naoki was only hoping that the empty eye sockets it had meant it was at least some kind of blind.

Naomi and Naoki were both holding their breathes as they heard the creature walk right in front of the door to their hiding place. Naoki could hear the creatures growling and could almost see it in his mind's eye raising up it's hand to crash through the door. The hand never came down though. He heard the thing turn, then as if somebody that creature considered a better treat screamed, it ran off like child trying to catch the ice cream truck.

Naoki let his breath go and he swore he started hyper-ventilating. Naomi did the same and they both attempted to calm themselves down. "Are you ok Naomi?"

She nodded. "Yeah...I'm fine Naoki. Thank you." As she started to calm herself down, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed. She noticed that while she was terrified, she must've almost choked Naoki with how hard she was holding him. She blushed as she let him go. "I'm sorry..."  
Naoki smiled and chuckled a little. "It's fine Naomi. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. It looks like it's gone, so let's leave while that's still the case." Naomi nodded and they headed off.

As they started to walk, it seemed as if the temperature of the building had dropped about fifty degrees. Naoki figured it was because of the creature, and he noticed Naomi shivering a little. He took off the jacket of his uniform and handed it to her. "Here, take this."

Naomi looked at him. "I can't take your jacket. You need it, don't you?"

Naoki shook his head. "I'll be fine." She greedily took the jacket and put it on. She thanked him a million times over before they decided to figure out where they were going.

"So...where should we go?" Naomi said.

Naoki looked around. "Well there's the stair case leading down, but it looks like the creature went that way." He lamented as he stared at the frost forming on the staircase. Naomi looked down the path that held their only option. It was a hallway that had it's light flickering, as if somebody was turning on and off the breaker. It appeared to actually be in a slightly better condition than the surrounding hallways. "It looks like that's our only way, unless we wanna try to find the key to the locker room," as Naoki said that he realized just how much he didn't like that idea. He had read plenty of horror stories in his time, and he figured the locker room would not be an ideal place to be.

"Well let's go then. Just keep a hand on the flashlight, ok? I don't like the dark.." Naomi said as she began to walk off. Naoki smiled and continued down the hallway with her.

* * *

Makoto came too with Viva putting some bandages on one of his arms. "Ugh...what happened?" He asked as he tried to take in his surroundings. He noticed there was a hole in the floor above them, and he vaguely remembered walking into the classroom above and falling into the hole. Viva must have come down after him, he could see she was flinching as she walked around. He saw the room they were in was fairly dark, but there was almost a moonlight that made the room have a pale glow. He saw it was another classroom, but this one didn't even have that many desks, and had enough cobwebs that he wouldn't be surprised if it hadn't been used in many years.

"Well you went and fell down a hole and I had to come down after ya. I didn't think I'd find the stairs fast enough if you **really** hurt yourself, so I jumped down. It hurt a bit, but I didn't sprain any bones, like you might've." Viva plainly stated.

"You didn't have to go and do that, I'm fine." Makoto said as he tried to stand up, but a considerable amount of pain kept him down. "Mostly..."

Viva chuckled a little. "You landed on one of the desks, I doubt you're moving much anytime soon."

Makoto sighed. "I guess you're right...where did you get the bandages anyway?"

Viva seemed a little embarrassed to respond. "Well uh, as you know...I get hurt a lot...so I started carrying stuff with me to practice incase I had some trouble."

"I guess you **do** get hurt quite a lot." Makoto laughed a little. He was glad he wasn't down here by himself. Viva always seemed to make him feel a little happier no matter what the circumstances were.

"So, let's take stock. Where are we anyway?" Viva said as she walked over to the windows. It seemed as if there was a huge dark hedge in the way blocking any way of seeing outside. She attempted to open a window, but the window might as well have been scenery. It wasn't locked, but it wasn't unlocked either. It wouldn't budge, and there was no clear volume to it. "Well we sure as hell ain't getting out that way."

Makoto looked around for a possible exit. He noticed the door out of this classroom was surrounded by rubble, which by themselves would be impossible to move. When he didn't immediately see another way out he started to panic a little. What if there was no way out and they were trapped in this hole? If one of those creatures he saw last time came by, they'd have nowhere to run. He was about to voice his concern when he heard Viva's voice from the darkest corner of the room. "Hey, there's a door here that leads to another classroom, maybe that place doesn't have rubble all over it."

"Maybe you should check first before you get my hopes up. I wouldn't want to get up for nothing." Makoto said to Viva, though he was pretty sure she was already in the other classroom. He sat in silence for a little bit and felt a throbbing pain in his leg. He must've landed on it on his way down. Even though he must've passed out, Makoto felt tired. He began to close his eyes when he heard Viva scream.


	8. Chapter 8

"Maybe you should check first before you get my hopes up. I wouldn't want to get up for nothing." Makoto said to Viva, though he was pretty sure she was already in the other classroom. He sat in silence for a little bit and felt a throbbing pain in his leg. He must've landed on it on his way down. Even though he must've passed out, Makoto felt tired. He began to close his eyes when he heard Viva scream.

Despite the situation, Makoto managed to work his way to standing up. He braced himself for the pain, and started walking, well wobbling would be a better word, towards where he heard Viva. When he entered the other classroom he saw Viva backing away from one of the creatures. "Viva!" Makoto shouted. Viva and the creature turned towards him.

Makoto looked the creature dead in the eye, which was admittedly a terrifying thing to do. "How about you pick on me big guy?" Makoto boldly stated. The creature let out its low growl and charged at him. Makoto raised his hands. He didn't know quite what he was thinking. He knew he couldn't exactly fight the thing, but he didn't want Viva to get hurt. As soon as the creature was about to hit him, there was a loud crash as a chair smashed down in the creatures head. As the chair was made of metal, the creature fell immediately. Viva was standing behind it, holding said chair.

"What was that Makoto!? Did you really think you could just punch that thing?" Viva feverishly stated. Makoto smiled.

"Hey, we're fine aren't we?" He shot back. He would have said more but he fell to his knee. "Hahaha...guess my legs a bit worse than I thought."

Viva simply sighed. "Yeah it is." She began to help him up. "Come on, let's leave before that thing wakes up. I found a way out just over here, before that thing came in."

Together, they walked out of the classroom into the dank hallway. Judging by a sign that they saw, they were on the first floor. The hallway was surprisingly barren, aside from the rubble that piled up near some holes in the floor. "Well this is gonna be a bit tricky." Viva said.

"We'll make it out though...I know it." Makoto said, though he wished he felt as confident as his words made him out to be. He figured eventually Goda would find them, but considering he couldn't see where the man's cameras were, for all he knew they weren't even anywhere where he could get them. They continued for quite a while before eventually coming to the entrance of the school. "Look, it's the entrance."

They stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the scene laid out before them. There were the normal shoe lockers near the entrance, but shoes were all lain out on the floor in perfect arrangements. A cold shudder went down Makoto's spine. "Well...that isn't a great sign."

"Heheh, maybe it isn't so bad. Let's just focus on finding a way out." Viva said. She braced Makoto against some of the lockers and walked towards the door. She attempted to open it, but she met the same result as the window. She attempted to press her face against the glass to see if she could see outside. It was like trying to look through a solid black wall, she could vaguely make out that there was something outside, but couldn't tell what it was. "Guess this is a no as well."

Makoto looked over toward her. "Guess we're stuck here then. Hmm?" He stopped halfway through his thought as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He saw what appeared to be a corpse that had been **_eaten_**. Funnily enough, it was missing its head. More importantly, there was a note left next to the body. "Hey Viva, I'm gonna go over here for a second!" He shouted towards Viva, even though she was barely 50 feet away.

"Alright, just holler if you see something." She said back. Makoto got himself up and walked over to the body. He picked up the note, which appeared stained with wet spots, that based on what he read would be tear marks.

_Victim's Memoirs #3 (1/5)_

_I'm horrible...I'm a horrible person. I can't believe what I did. Me and my friend...we'be been stuck in here for so long, I can't even count how many days, since there's no day or night. We were so hungry...we decided it on a game of Rock-paper-scissors. Winner eats loser. We figured that if at least one of us lived, the other would be able to explain what happened. I won...my god...I started, and before I knew it I was feasting on him like he was a buffet. I couldn't help it, I was starving, and he tasted so good...I figured I should write this down, so anybody that finds this knows what I did. And how sorry I am to have done it._

"My god..." Makoto muttered to himself. The last thing he was expecting was to find something like that here, and it said it was #3...meaning there's obviously a 1 and 2. He put the note away in his pocket, because he didn't want Viva to see it. Viva was walking over towards him when he finished.

"Find anything?" He casually asked her. She responded in the negative, which he could tell hurt her. She was always one of the more optimistic of his friends.

"It seems like we're stuck. Plain and simple as that." Viva said, sighing. "I'm sorry Makoto, I got your hopes up for nothing."

Makoto smiled. "Hey, look on the bright side. Theres more places we could check, plus you're the one that's gotten us this far."

Viva smiled at her friend's reassuring comment. "Thanks." Makoto nodded and with Viva helping him again, they continued on.


	9. Chapter 9

"I'm going to go on record for saying we're lost." Naoki said as he and Naomi walked along empty corridor after empty corridor.

"Well excuse me if it it's hard to find my bearings when I'm in a place I've never been in before!" Naomi exclaimed before giving Naoki a friendly punch to the shoulder.

Naoki rubbed his shoulder from the hit and laughed. "I know. I know."

Naomi simply sighed. "But still I'm worried. We haven't found anyone else here...you think we're really all alone?"

"I wouldn't doubt it." Naoki stated. He was worried as well. If Goda hadn't found them yet, he didn't know if he ever would. Naoki also couldn't get that note they found out of his mind. He had read it over and over agin just to make sure he understood right. _The place we're in is causing things to happen to people. How long is it gonna be before me and Naomi start becoming affected?_

"Hey! I found something!" Naomi exclaimed. Naoki noticed he had been walking slower while he was lost in thought. He quickly caught up with Naomi and noticed she had opened a door to a cafeteria.

"Oh, awesome! Maybe we can get some food." Naoki said.

"Yeah...wait. What floor are we on again?" Naomi asked.

"Well considering there was a floor below us before we went up, it has to at least be the third floor." Naoki answered.

"I would question why a cafeteria is on the third floor, but I think that's the least of my worries." Naomi said with a sigh. They walked into the room. Inside, all the tables had been thrown aside to make a sort of wall around the windows and doors looking out into the hallway.

There was also several piles of bones sitting around and there was a set of double doors leading to the kitchen. The room seemed as if to carry a strange odor to it, as well. While Naoki couldn't quite place it, he didn't want to find out what it was. "Well, it looks like people were surviving here for a while." Naoki stated out loud.

"That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence." Naomi said with a slight shiver in her voice. Naoki took note of this because she felt the saw way right before the creature appeared.

"Naomi...are you ok?" Naoki asked with concern.

Naomi looked at him with a vacant look in her eyes. Naoki couldn't quite explain why, but he started backing up from her. It seemed as if her entire soul had been sucked out of her body and all that was left was her empty husk of a body. She blinked and her eyes turned completely normal. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Nevermind..." Naoki said. He was scared. Not only for himself, but for Naomi as well. Something was definitely happening to her, and he wanted to find out what.

Naomi seemed to start to look around before suddenly clutching her chest and panting really hard. She had one of her eyes closed and the other squinted as if she was in intense pain. She started to shake and fell down to her knees. "Naoki...we need to leave...now."

"What? What's wrong Naomi!?" Naoki exclaimed. He didn't understand what was going on, and he was too terrified to move. He noticed the kitchen door was slightly opening. He saw a dark mist pouring from the door, followed by a hallow voice, a voice no sane person would carry.

"Get...out...no one will have my YUI!" The voice shouted and Naoki could feel himself shoved back along with Naomi. Naomi had landed in a corner of the room, and was still shaking and holding her chest. "Naoki..." She stated before she passed out.

Naoki had been shot back into a wall, but was still conscious. He could feel the searing pain in his back, and he feared if he had received a more serious injury. He looked out with slightly bleary vision at the now open kitchen doors. He could see a vague human like shape standing in the doorway, however he couldn't make out any details.

It just seemed as if the shadows themselves had come alive and taken shape in front of him. "Who..." Naoki started to say but he could barely talk through the pain. As he started to slip into unconsciousness, he swore he could see someone come into the room from the wall. His eyes closed and he felt the room around him fade away.

When he came too, his back was in a significantly less amount of pain. He started to sit up and when he clutched his painful areas, he felt bandages. He looked around and saw Naomi sleeping in a bed beside him. _I must be in Goda's hideout._

He heard Goda's voice from the other room. "I hear you moving around in there! If you can move I'd like to talk with you."

Naoki got himself up and walked over to where Goda was. "What do you need, Goda-San?"

Goda sighed. "Well first let me say I'm sorry you're back here. It seems I miscalculated Nyarlathrotep's abilities. Second, you should count yourself lucky I found you when I did. That spirit just about killed you."

"Spirit? You mean, like a ghost or something?"

Goda sighed. "Yeah. This world...when you die in here it doesn't let go of your spirit. You have to experience the pain of your death for all entirety. The husk of your body is thrown out into the human world, where more than likely the police will find it."

Naoki sat down in a chair beside him. "So those bodies the police found...were people that died in here?"

Goda nodded. "Sadly, yes. I take you can't see spirits if you got that close to one's "habitat" without knowing."

Naoki was surprised. "You can?"

"Yes, I can. And apparently so can your friend there." He pointed to Naomi. "She was so worked up when I first checked her I had to give her a sedative just to calm her down enough to follow me."

"So she wasn't passed out the whole time?" Naoki said.

Goda laughed a little. "No, actually. Once I shook her a little she got up. After explaining I wasn't gonna hurt her, she followed me back her carrying you. I was gonna do it, but she insisted she carry you herself."

Naoki almost laughed imagining Naomi carrying him by herself. "No wonder she's out cold." Naoki then remember what he wanted to ask Goda about.

"Goda, have you seen Makoto at all?" Naoki figured if he was here, Makoto and Viva were as well.

Goda frowned. "No I haven't. Do you think he is here as well?"

Naoki nodded. "I can only assume."

"Well I'm sorry then. But I haven't seen them at all." Goda said as he scanned all the cameras again, probably looking for Makoto.

Naoki sat there for a whole before speaking again. "Thank you...for saving us."

Goda turned around and seemed embarrassed. "Haha it was nothing. Honestly you should be thanking that mark on your hand. It led me to you."

Naoki smiled. It seemed Philemon's gift wasn't all bad after all. Then Naoki got an idea. "Wait. If you found me because of this, can't we use the same to find Makoto?"

Goda seemed to think about it for a second before responding. "I don't entirely know how it works. But it seems like I could only sense yours because you were in danger. So I suppose if Makoto is here, he must not be in any danger."

Naoki nodded. It made sense. He was still worried about Viva though. Even if they could tell when Makoto was in danger, Viva didn't have a mark. He also started thinking about the ghost that attacked them. The note he carried into there burned in his pocket as the kitchen door opened.

_Is it possible he's the author of this note? If so...what happened to him? I can't believe I'm saying this, but I need to find the rest of his notes. And with Naomi out...it looks like I'll have to go out on my own._

Goda-San...how many floors is this building?"

"6 floors. I just picked you up on the 4th. Why?"

Naoki sat in silence before speaking. "I was wondering how hard my job was gonna be."

Goda shot up in his seat. "You're not going out there by yourself!"

"What other choice do I have!? I need to find answers to what the hell is going on here!" Naoki shot back.

Goda seemed to take those words to heart. "I see...well let me give you something then." Goda handed him a small communicator. "Keep in contact. I'll go after you if I don't hear from you in more than 15 minutes. Alright?"

Naoki nodded. "I understand. I won't go far."

"I hope you don't.." Goda said as Naoki left the room. Goda stared at the monitors and sighed._That kid is gonna get himself killed on of these days...but I guess Miroku was like that too, wasn't he?_


	10. Chapter 10

Naoki couldn't exactly explain why he felt the need to go out. He knew it was a bad idea to go out alone but he needed to find out more about their situation. And it seemed the best way to do that would be to seek out the rest of the notes left by the author of the note. It said there was 5 of them. So he began his search on the second floor.

Naoki slowly opened the secret passage preparing for a possible encounter with a creature. Thankfully, there was nothing nearby. He saw the same blood soaked walls he had unfortunately grown accustomed to. He noticed the closet room to the entrance was a library. It might have been the reader in him, but he wanted to check it out despite common sense dictating it was a bad idea.

The library appeared as one would expect. Shelves upon shelves carried books and the like, though seeing the cobwebs everywhere made Naoki feel sad. He was a heavy book person, so seeing a library in a run down state like it was had a profound effect on him. He walked into the library and first noticed was the flickering lights. Secondly, he noticed just how cold it was in there. It was as if he stepped outside during winter. Naoki began to shiver, and held himself tightly to try to keep himself warm, but it seemed it was a futile effort. He walked inside. There seemed to be a little "base" that had been set up in the center of the room out of the many chairs and desks. He walked inside and almost felt his jaw drop at the sight inside. It wasn't the normal bodies he had been used to. In fact these bodies had no external injuries, they were simply frozen solid. The inside of the area was covered in ice and what appeared to be snow. _How is this even possible?_

Naoki examined the bodies and saw that they all seemed to have a look of horror on their face. As Naoki was starting to get uncomfortable he left that area and went towards the bookshelves. He scanned through looking at the books, however they all were blank. "Figures I wouldn't find a good read in a place like this." Naoki inwardly sighed.

He stopped when he noticed something poking out in-between a couple of books. It was a single piece of paper folded up. He pulled it out and began to read it.

_Victim's Memoirs #4 1/5_

_We've all gathered up in the library. It seems safe enough, except for the huge freezer on the second floor, I can't really see any reason for it being here instead of being in the cafeteria. We've been running a little low on food, but I'm not worried. I sure Senpai has a way to get us out of this mess. He always seems to have a plan_.

Naoki almost dropped the page. The last thing he was expecting was to find another one so soon. He inwardly groaned as he noticed this note was for a different set. _Damn! Well, now I can see there's a lot more notes then I thought._

Naoki noticed a staircase he had neglected when he first walked in. There was a bit of rubble in the way, but he easily cleared it away. As soon as he cleared the way, he was assaulted by a blast of colder air. After it died down, he looked through the opening. What he saw, he couldn't quite explain without claiming it to be supernatural. He saw the top floor was slightly frozen, and it was snowing. Inside, and only on the second floor. "This is interesting..." His intrigue was set off even more as he saw a massive freezer. The door to it was open, and he noticed a string of tags normally used to ward off spirits plastered around it. He also noticed the body of a girl next to the door, completely encased in a block of ice. While that wouldn't have disturbed him any more than the frozen bodies down below, she seemed to not be in any distress at all.

Her unmoving eyes were staring out towards the wall, and her mouth was cupped into a smile, as if she was blissfully unaware of her own death. He walked over to the door and examined it.

"What was in here that they needed spirit tags for? It looks like they didn't help much..." It seemed whatever they had been trying to stop hadn't been stopped at all. He figured while they had already been used, the spirit tags might be nice to have around if they ran into another ghost. He grabbed about four of the ten tags he could see and put them in his pocket. Since it seemed like there was nothing more to gain here, Naoki turned around to leave.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed the girl's head had turned to look straight at him. Not only that, but one of her arms had changed position as well. Naoki rubbed his eyes in an attempt to check if he was seeing things, but his question was answered when he saw her eyes blink. Naoki had never run so fast in his life.

As Naoki cleared the opening he made, he hit the rubble to cause the hole to be covered. He didn't think that whatever was up there would be stopped by a blockade like that, but he felt better for doing it. He immediately went back into the secret passageway and back to Goda's hideout.

When he walked back in, he saw Naomi sitting down by Goda drinking a cup of water. He felt an enormous weight lift off his shoulders when he let out his relief. "Naomi. You're ok."

Naomi noticed Naoki and ran straight for him giving him a hug. "Naoki! You're ok! When you didn't get up I was so worried!" Naomi sat there hugging him in silence for a while before she seemed to realize what she was doing and let go of him blushing like a ripe tomato. "I'm so sorry, I just..."

Naoki laughed. "It's fine. I'm glad to see you too." Naoki was glad she was there to help him forget what he just experienced in the library. Though he couldn't help but remember the way she had looked when they encountered the spirit. While he was glad to have her here, he would never forgive himself if she went through that much pain again. "Naomi...are you sure you're ok?"

Naomi stepped back again and stared at the ground for a bit. "Of course I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be?"

Naoki looked her dead in the eye. "If we keep looking for Makoto and Viva we'll more likely than not run into another ghost. I don't want you to get hurt."

Naomi seemed sad. "But!..."

Naoki shook his head. "No, I don't want you hurt. How do you think I'd feel if I led you to getting hurt."

Goda turned around. "Actually Naoki...she only felt that way specifically because of the ghost you encountered. See, she's a spiritual empath, so she can feel the emotions of the ghosts she encounters."

Naomi nodded. "Yeah, he said I could be a good help to you. I can tell when we're getting close to a bad spirit!"

Naoki sighed. He clearly wasn't wining this battle. "Alright, but you're gonna tell me this time before we're right on top of them, right?"

Naomi seemed to get really sad as he said that. "Yeah...I'm sorry."

Naoki grabbed her by the shoulder. "Hey, I didn't say it was your fault. I just wanna make sure you're ok."

Naomi blushed again. "You're too nice to me Naoki."

Naoki turned away as he blushed. "Hey...I mean I'd de the same for Makoto or Viva as well."

Goda laughed a little. "Alright you two love birds. Let's focus on finding your two friends, alright?"

Naoki and Naomi both nodded. "Right!"


	11. Chapter 11

It felt like they had been walking around for hours. Makoto's busted leg didn't help matters either. They had to stop about every 15 minutes or so to let it rest. "Sorry about this Viva..." Makoto said one of the times he was resting.

Viva was looking around for the corner of the hallway they were in for any hostile creature coming towards them. "For what? Being hurt? You can't really control that, can you? So how about you stop being an idiot for a second and let's try to think about what to do. We've been going around for a while without finding anything but locked doors and the odd body."

Makoto sighed. "Well, it looks like we've explored this floor as much as we'll be able to. Guess we should find the stairs and head up."

Viva nodded. "I agree. So once you're feeling a little better, let's get going. See? How hard was that to think about?"

Makoto laughed a little. "Thank you Viva." As Makoto sat there, he pulled out the note they had found and stared at it. Just merely reading the words again in his mind seemed to fill his body with dread._ I hate to think of what happened to this person. I don't know what's going on in this place...but I'm not gonna let anything like this happen to anyone else._

Makoto stood up, and walked towards Viva. Clasping a hand on her shoulder, he said "Let's go."

They walked for quite a ways before they finally found a room they could enter. Upon entering the room they were met with a room going just lengthways with just the width of a hallway to it. Parts of the room had collapsed and the light was flickering, but there was a chalkboard on the center wall, and a strange contraption at the back of the room.

Curious, Makoto walked to the back of the room. Upon closer inspection. It looked like an old wench crane, with a switch to turn it on and off. "What could this be for?"

Viva seemed nervous. "I don't know, but I don't think we should mess with it. For all we know, turning it on could cause the floor to collapse or something."

Makoto sighed. "I suppose you're right, but it also could lead us to more people."

Viva seemed unmoved. "You wanna flip it, be my guest. But I'm standing over here if you're gonna do it." She moved quite a ways back through the room.

"Alright then..." Makoto said as he flipped the switch. For a few seconds. It looked as if it was broken. But then the spinning gear sprung to life and they could hear machinery in the walls moving. A part of the wall slid away to reveal an extra room.

"Well then, shall we?" Makoto said as he walked in. Viva followed closely behind. They entered the room and found it completely barren except for a staircase that led downward. Wherever it led to appeared to be completely dark, except for a flickering light that seemed to be a ways down the corridor. Upon closer inspection, Makoto noticed a note laying at the top of the stairs. He picked it up and examined it, revealing it was another of the "victim's memoirs".

_Victim's Memoirs #3 (2/5)_

_I wandered around for a quite a while. I don't know why, but I kept his head...I couldn't bear to feel myself eat it. I can't help but feel his unmoving eyes are still moving, and watching my every move. I ran into another group, and we found a secret way downstairs...we're thinking that the creatures won't be able to find us as easily down there then standing around on the main floor. I'm getting funny looks from everyone...but it's ok...I'm gonna make sure we both make it out of this Kensei...your sacrifice won't be in vain..._

"It looks like it's dark down there, we should probably come back with a flashlight." Viva said. Makoto had just finished reading the note, and his instincts were telling him it was a sound idea to leave that area alone.

"Right...besides, I think we should go up instead of down." Makoto said as he pocketed the second note. They headed off to find another way. Thankfully, the staircase up was located nearby. Makoto was especially glad, as his mood was getting progressively worse the longer they weren't with Naoki. He could tell Viva was scared too, even if she didn't want to admit it.

As they reached the top of the stairs, they heard a familiar growl, coming from where they just came from. Makoto turned around to see a creature crawling on the stairs towards them. From the bump on its head, it appeared to be the same one they had escaped from before. As there was no weapon in the immediate vicinity, they both ran as fast as they could.

Makoto's leg made it virtually impossible to outrun the creature, they were going to either have to find a weapon or somewhere to hide. They ran into the first classroom they could, and slammed the door shut. Viva, with a little help from Makoto, managed to push a cabinet in front of the door. They knew it wouldn't hold it long, but at least they'd be able to find time to look for something to use.

Makoto scrambled around and eventually found a metal pipe laying on the ground. While not the best weapon, Makoto figured he could do a whole lot more than knock it out this time. The creature ripped through the cabinet and came charging towards Viva. She managed to jump slightly in the air and gave it a swift kick to the face, while Makoto ran towards it and began to beat its head with the pipe. He kept hitting it until it let out one final screech and was still.

It was hard for Makoto to calm down. He felt like all his blood had been rushing at once, and he fell slightly. Viva caught him. "Are you ok? I think it's dead...good job."

Makoto smiled a little. "Yeah...let's get out of here before more of his friends come. Viva couldn't agree more. They began to leave the room when they saw just down the hallway were two more creatures staring right at them.

"That didn't take long." Makoto voiced as they began to run. Makoto's leg had not gotten used to so much activity so after a while, he collapsed. Viva ran to him. "Makoto! Get up! We gotta go!"

Makoto looked at Viva. "I'm sorry, just go on ahead. I'm just gonna slow you down."

Viva looked at him and looked as if she was about to cry. "Oh no! We're not gonna start with the bullshit heroic sacrifices Makoto!" She grabbed the pipe and turned to face the now 3 creatures slowly heading towards her.

"Alright you bastards! You want a tasty snack? Come and get it!" Viva got into a fighting stance, which thankfully she never had to use. The wall to their right slid open, and both Viva and Makoto were pulled inside.

After Viva's eyes adjusted to the low light, she saw Naomi looking down at her. "Naomi!" She hugged her friend as hard as she could.

Makoto was being helped up by Naoki. "Thanks man...I was beginning to think we'd never find you."

Naoki sighed. "I wish it hadn't been that close. What happened to your leg?"

Makoto laughed a little. "A small fall, I'm fine."

Naomi smiled. "I'm glad to see you're both ok. I've been so worried."

Viva smiled and gave her friend a slight wink. "Was there any doubt I'd be fine? You should be worried about this idiot over here!"

Makoto sighed. "You're one to talk after what just happened..."

Naoki nodded. "Anyway, follow us. We have a base we can rest up in."

Both Makoto and Viva nodded, glad to be finally reunited with their friends.


	12. Chapter 12

Makoto and Viva were brought back to Goda's base. They were relieved to finally be amongst friends, and Makoto was glad to at least be off his leg. Makoto laid on the bed, letting the day's griefs drift away as he fell asleep. Naoki sighed as he saw Makoto's steady breathing of sleep start. "He's been through a lot, hasn't he?"

Viva nodded. "He was already willing to sacrifice himself, and if you wouldn't have come...it might've happened."

Naomi frowned. "Why did all this have to happen...who are you anyway?" She directed her question towards Goda. Naoki almost slapped himself for forgetting to explain to Naomi who Goda was. Thankfully Goda did a fine job himself. He explained to Naomi and Viva where they were, and that Naoki and Makoto had been there before.

Naomi turned to Naoki. "So is that why you guys had trouble sleeping."

Naoki nodded. "I had nightmares for a little while, and I'm sure Makoto did too."

Viva seemed sad. "And why didn't you guys tell us this was all going on?"

"We didn't want you involved...this place is too dangerous." Naoki responded.

"We can handle ourselves fine!" Naomi exclaimed. "Just give us a chance."

Viva reaffirmed her friend. "I helped Makoto all fine by myself. If I hadn't been there, he'd still be sitting in a hole with a sprained leg!"

Naoki laughed. "Calm down...I only said that's why I didn't tell you. I see now that I was worrying for nothing. Still though..."

Goda smiled. "Well I'm glad to see you're all together again, at least. Now we just have two people uncounted for."

Everyone turned to Goda but Naoki was the one to respond. "Two? We should be the only ones here."

Goda seemed confused. "Well when you guys came in, I got 2 more people that came in a little bit afterward. At least, that's what my computer told me."

Naomi seemed a little nervous. "You mean there's two more people out there?.."

Viva seemed a little angry. "And we can't do anything about it?!"

Goda was taken aback. "Whoa. I never said you couldn't get to them." He turned to his computer and turned the computer to a screen that had two blinking lights on it. "They're right here."

Naoki looked at the screen. He could see one dot was off quite a ways, but another one was nearby. "We'll go after the closest one then."

Naomi seemed shocked. "Wait, what? But we don't know them...what if it's a trap or something!?"

Naoki sighed. "Well, I for one am not going to let two people go around by themselves. Besides, the best way to counter a trap is to intentionally spring it. Who wants to come with me?"

Naomi volunteered. "I will. I want to help you."

Viva laughed a little. "Well three's a crowd, so I'll leave you two be."

"Whatever suits you Viva." Naoki replied.

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Naoki and Naomi had left through the entrance to the 3rd floor. The same floor they had first entered on. "You think this person entered with us?" Naomi's thoughts were the same as Naoki's.

"Probably." What Naoki couldn't figure out though, was who would have been nearby them when they were taken. It had been too late in the evening for the clubs to still be using the gym. His thoughts were cut off by the sound of a gunshot. Spooked at first, they eventually ran towards the sound.

Eventually they came to the dead body of a creature on the ground. It had two bullet holes in it, and seemed to give off a faint odor. Naoki turned down the hallway and saw Detective Shirogane leaning against one of the walls, clutching his shoulder with one hand, and holding a gun in the other.

"Chijinda?" Naomi said out loud. She ran over to him, helping him while Naoki mulled things over in his mind.

"You were following us.." Naoki said to Chijinda.

Chijinda nodded and smiled a bit. "I assure you..." A throb of pain from his shoulder cut him off for a second. "...it was simply for your own good."

Naomi was bandaging up his wound. "That's not important right now...we gotta get you back to base."

"Quickly." Naoki said. "Goda-San said that killing these things just make more appear faster."

Chijinda frowned a little. "That would explain a few things. That's the second one I've encountered since I arrived."

Naoki was looking the detective up and down. His clothes were battered, torn in several places. He had blood dripping from a wound on his shoulder and one on his leg. The "Sherlock" style cap he had worn before was gone. He was also panting, as he had been probably running for a while.

"There's also that other person we need to find." Naoki said. He was glad they had found Chijinda, as it seemed he was down on his luck. However, he was also concerned about the other person._ If Chijinda was following me, and he appeared where I entered, whoever is also in here was following Makoto._

"Chijinda. Do you have a partner in all this?" Naoki questioned.

Chijinda shook his head. "No...I was the only one following you."

"Naomi...take him back. I'll go find the other person by myself."

Naomi seemed shocked. "But! You know it's dangerous by yourself!"

Naoki shook his head. "We don't have time. Go!"

Naomi begrudgingly obliged. She helped Chijinda along, however Chijinda had one more thing to tell Naoki.

"Naoki...take my gun. For protection, of course..." He said as he handed him the pistol.

Naoki nodded. As they walked away Naoki stared at the weapon in his hand. He had never fired a gun before, and was hoping he wouldn't have to. He ran off to find his next target.

Judging by the screen, it seemed the next person he was looking for was by the library. While Naoki dreaded heading back to that place, he knew it was necessary. He headed off and found his way back no problem, however he wasn't expecting to see the scene lain out before him.

He saw about four dead creatures laying on the ground, with a girl stabbing one of them repeatedly. He was about to speak, but the girl turned her head. A familiar picture of brown hair rolled into buns penetrated Naoki's field of vision. It was Saki!

"Naoki! I'm so glad to see you!" Saki exclaimed and ran over to her friend. She hugged him and had a blissful smile on her face, as if she didn't just kill a bunch of monsters.

Naoki was studying her carefully. She sounded like Saki. She looked like Saki. She even seemed to wear that same perfume Saki had also worn. But there was something about her that made Naoki feel unsettled. She seemed happy...way too happy considering the situation. The knife in her hand was completely soaked in blood, and her eyes seemed to have nothing behind them, which made her smile even more unsettling.

"Saki...? But I thought you were dead..." Naoki stammered to say. Something about this "Saki" told Naoki he should be extra careful.

"Well of course I'm dead silly! But being dead gives you all sorts of cool things you can do! Ooh, wanna see me do a magic trick?!"

Naoki was about to voice his objections, but she proceeded to grab at her head and start pulling. Naoki was unnerved enough by what the maneuver implied. But when he heard the vertebra in her neck start snapping, he felt sick to his stomach. He could hear every single bone in her neck crack and break, and she proceeded to literally rip her own head off. The smile she had been carrying was still there as this all was going on.

Even worse, she was giggling as she was doing it. "See! And I can put it back!" She proceeded to repeat the process but backwards. The bones in her neck snapped back into place, and she did a little twirl as she finished as if it was the most elegant thing in the world. Something about the situation told Naoki he shouldn't freak out, so he clapped.

"Well...done Saki..." He nervously said. He was horrified to see what his friend had become. He was sitting back wondering if he ran whether or not he'd have enough time to get away. He didn't need to decide however, as he heard more creatures down the hallway.

"Man...these guys are annoying! Don't worry Naoki, I'll take care of them!" Saki said as she skipped off, humming a nice tune as she went along, as if murder was her driving pleasure in life. Naoki left as fast as his legs would carry him.


	13. Chapter 13

Naoki ran back to Goda's hideout. He could barely keep himself calm after what just happened. He felt a sting of regret leaving Saki in that state, but he also felt she'd be fine on her own, and he'd be safer as far away from her as possible. He walked in, and it was clearly obvious the look on his face gave away something. Naomi immediately looked at him with concern. "What happened Naoki?"

"I found who I was looking for..." Naoki could tell the tone of his voice didn't help matters. It was shaky, and he was still trying to regulate his breathing. He had been terrified the entire time that Saki would stab him and end it right then and there, but it seemed she was completely unpredictable in that regard.

"Really? You don't look too happy about it." Viva said. She got up and walked over to Naoki. "How about you sit down dude. You look like you need some water."

Goda was looking at him with a concerned, but serious expression. Naoki had never seen Goda look like this, he figured maybe he was concerned that he might had run into an enemy. "It was Saki..."

Naomi gasped. "Wait, Saki?! But how is that possible?"

"I don't know, but she's insane now. I found her stabbing a bunch of monsters with a blissful smile on her face." Naoki relayed.

"I was afraid of this..." Goda said.

All three of them looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Goda sighed. "As I said before...when you die in this place, your soul remains here while your body is thrown out unto the human world. Well, your spirit can be manipulated by a more powerful spirit."

"So you're saying she's possessed." Chijinda said as he walked in from the side room. He had been cleaned up, but he still had some bandages on his shoulder.

Goda nodded. "Yeah, basically. It will be fairly difficult to help her."

Viva shot him a curious look. "Wait, so you're gonna help us help her?"

Goda smiled. "Well I can't really stop you, so why not?"

"Thank you Goda-San. But first, I have a few questions to ask Chijinda." Naoki said. Chijinda looked at him as if he had been expecting this. Naoki sat down and Chijinda sat right next to him.

"Why were you following me?" Naoki innocently asked.

Chijinda sighed. "Well, as I said, it was merely for your own safety. I knew something was going on, and I figured someone who had been to the Velvet Room before would be a prime target."

Naoki was confused. "Velvet Room?"

Chijinda nodded. "The domain of the servants of Philemon. I suppose there's a chance you directly met with him, in which case makes you an even more prime target."

Naoki was taken aback by how much the young detective knew. "So you know Philemon?"

Chijinda shook his head. "I personally don't. But I know people who do. I suppose if we are going to work together I should show you my notes on the case, shouldn't I?"

The sudden change of subject caught Naoki off guard. "Yeah. You should."

Chijinda nodded and pulled out a small notebook. He flipped it open to a particular page and began reading. He explained the abnormal circumstances of death, along with the bloody messages. "All the messages had one thing in common. They kept talking about time...as if they were waiting for something to happen."

"I went and investigated the old cases of the police department and tried to find any connections. I did find one. There was an old case with two students from another school. Their names were Hanaki Shinozaki, and Yui Fuori. Hanaki only went missing, while Yui was found dead in the same manner as Saki Suzumoto."

Naoki gasped at the mention of the name Yui. "I think I know who you're talking about...I found a note that mentioned a Yui and there was a ghost that attacked me that used that name as well."

Chijinda nodded. "It was probably Hanaki then. He was close to her. Anyway, there was a message with that body as well, and it carried a similar message. I'm amazed the police didn't bring up this case before I went digging. The message read as follows: There is always a calm before a storm, but most let it go by without incident. This is a calm that will bring with it a new era of man. Prepare yourselves, for the time will come."

Naoki was unnerved by the message. "So what does that all mean?"

Chijinda seemed lost in thought. "It means we don't have a lot of time to stop whatever is behind all this. This "time" they speak of is obviously almost here. If Yui was the calm, Saki was the beginning of the storm."

Everyone in the room tensed up. Suddenly, the stakes had been raised. When they first entered, it was about rescuing their friends. Now it was about saving the world. "Where do we start?" Asked Naomi.

Chijinda pondered the question. "I suppose we should start with your friend Saki. If we can help her, then she will be able to tell us about her experience here."

Viva piped up. "What if she left one of those "Vicitm's memoirs" things? We could find those and start from there."

"Well then, we should get started." Everyone turned to see Makoto standing in the doorway. "I'm gonna help, and no one is gonna stop me."

"Makoto! How much did you hear?" Naomi asked.

"Everything." He replied. "I'm helping to save Saki."

Naoki sighed. "Well I suppose I can't stop you. Very well, you and me can go start looking."

Naomi seemed angry. "What about me and Viva!? You know we can help!"

Chijinda smiled. "You two should definitely not go alone. Allow me to go with you. Once we find the first, we can figure out how to proceed from there."

Viva simply sighed. "So me and Naomi just sit here then?"

Naoki frowned. "Naomi I promise I will go out with you next time. I just wanna make sure you're gonna be fine the next time we run into a ghost."

Naomi nodded. "I know...just be careful, ok?"

The three boys nodded, and went off. The proceeded to go down to the second floor. As that was the floor they had explored the least. Walking further down the corridor where they first entered, they came upon a room that was locked the conventional way.

"Well I'll be. A door with a normal lock." Makoto said. They looked up and saw the room was labeled "infirmary".

Naoki sighed. "Well I suppose this is a door we have to find the key for then, right?"

Chijinda chimed in. "Maybe not...I have a key on me I found...maybe it's for this door."

Chijinda pulled out his key and tried it in the door. Surprisingly enough, it worked. They opened the door and entered the room. As they came in, they were assaulted by the foul stench of gas from a broken down heater. They noted there was 4 beds lain out throughout the room, with the heater in the center. There were two skeletons laying on some of the beds. There was a cabinet pushed down on the ground, with glass and blood scattered around it. The light in the room was flickering, and the hard wood floor looked slightly molded.

"Well, this is a great place to start..." Naoki muttered to himself. The three boys walked into the room, and started searching around for anything of note. Makoto was the first to find something.

"Guys! I found something!" Makoto said as he bent his hand down into a trash can. He pulled out a cellphone which immediately made him jump back.

Naoki noticed his friend's reaction. "What did you find?"

Makoto looked at his two friends. "I found her cellphone."


	14. Chapter 14

Chijinda stared at the cellphone. "Her cellphone...wait, Makoto. Didn't you receive a call from Ms. Suzumoto before you returned to Nakushima?"

Makoto looked at Chijinda with a curious face. "Yeah...why?"

"This might be one of the keys we need to get her back! She obviously called you while still in a stable state of mind, didn't she?" Chijinda feverishly explained.

While the two others were busy discussing the cellphone, Naoki was focused on what he had found. He was staring at a sheet of paper. More specifically, a note written by Saki.

"Guys...I found a note..." Naoki said with a shaky voice. He had finished reading it, and while it had no terrible things on it, he felt uneasy. The others gathered around to read the note themselves.

_Victim's Memoirs #2 (1/5)_

_I'm scared...I don't know where I am. One second I was in bed, the next second I'm standing in a strange school. I found some others, and we agreed to go around together. Eventually, after what felt like days of walking, we decided to bunker down in the infirmary. A few people went off to "scout" around while I stayed with the rest. We were laying down in the beds when one of our group started clutching his throat, like he was choking. I could see the pain on his face as he convulsed on the ground, thrashing about. Eventually, he was still, and a strange dark mist seemed to start pouring out of him. He stood back up, but this time with nothing but malice in his eyes. He grabbed a pair of scissors from a nearby table and began to charge at us! He cut up so many people...I could only sit there and watch it happen. Eventually he turned to me, a wicked smile spread across his face. He cackled like a madman, then charged at me. I panicked, and knocked down a cabinet nearby. It fell right on top of him. Blood started to pour out from underneath it...I didn't stay to find out if he really died...I left as quickly as I could._

Naoki sighed as he finished reading it a second time. "I don't like the look of that blood on the floor now..."

Chijinda nodded. "Yes, I suppose you're right. I don't see any spirits in here, but it'd be best if we left quickly."

Naoki looked at Chijinda. "You can see spirits too? I feel left out." He chuckled a little at his own joke.

"Well don't feel too left out. I wouldn't wish this burden on anyone else." Chijinda calmly said before slapping a hand on Naoki's shoulder. "Let's be off then shall we?"

The three continued off down the corridor. Not finding anything of too much value, they decided to head back to base and enter through a different floor. This time, they took to the fourth floor, meaning to head up to the fifth. "The fifth floor is one of the only places we haven't checked. If we're gonna find stuff related to Saki, we'll have to check there." Naoki said to the group as they were heading towards a staircase leading to the fifth floor.

Chijinda nodded, but seemed a little nervous when he stared up the stairwell. "It looks dark, we'll need flashlights."

Makoto laughed a little. "Naoki, don't you have a flashlight? I saw you with it earlier."

Naoki nodded and pulled out the flashlight. He was nervous though, as he didn't know how long it would last. He figured though now was as good time as any to go forward.

They made their way up to the fifth floor, turning on the flashlight as they reached the top of the staircase. Upon examining the area, they found that the area up there was full of a lot more corpses then they would like. The air was terrible, and it seemed blood had been used as paint on the walls. It also was strangely in a state of good condition. The only holes in the floor were in areas where they wouldn't cause any problems.

"Well...this is getting better and better." Makoto stated out loud as they maneuvered around another body.

"We'll have to be extra careful here...if we run into a creature here..." Chijinda didn't need to finish his thought. Naoki knew if they ran into a creature here, they'd be finished.

They continued along until they were in a shock for their life when the flashlight' slight revealed the face of Saki as they turned a corner. Naoki nearly dropped the flashlight as her face grew into a smile upon seeing her friend.

"Naoki! Fancy meeting you up here...what are you doing?" She said, with the same playful tone she had used before.

"Hey...Saki..." Naoki said, in full nervous wreck mode.

Makoto stepped forward, seemingly not believing what he was seeing. "Saki?"

Saki stared at Makoto and the biggest smile in the world came across her face. "Makoto!" She ran at him, gave him a hug, then gave him one of the biggest kisses Naoki had ever seen. What normally would be a happy sight to see, Naoki couldn't help but be utterly disturbed by it.

Makoto seemed to share his sentiments, as he stepped back a few steps. "I'm happy to see you too..." He said.

She twirled herself around as if she was a ballerina in a recital. "Well, as I said...what are you guys doing up here? It's awfully dark up here. Someone shut off the power."

Naoki's interest were raised. "Shut off the power? Do you know where the breaker is?"

Saki thought for a moment. "No...but I could easily go look for it for you! Just leave it to me!" She ran off as if there was no danger at all.

Naoki was finally able to breathe again. "God...that was close."

Chijinda couldn't agree more. "Yes...I'm glad she seemed to like you all. There some light up ahead in that room...come on."

Naoki stared forward and saw exactly what Chijinda was talking about. What he hadn't noticed before due to Saki was there was a brightly lit room down a little ways. Summoning their courage, they headed off towards the room. Anxious at what they would find inside.


End file.
